Plan & Prepare for Summer Fun

“When you say ‘YES’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘NO’ to yourself.”

-Paulo Coelho

Remember our Livin’ Life newsletter from November that talked about that super important February planning session? Well guess what friends, February is here! So, reach out to your closest friends and family members, the ones you want to be adventuring with this summer and put a night on the calendar to get together to start planning. 

Before you meet up with them though, there are some important steps for you to take, so read on to make sure to set up your 2023 with a plan to LIVE. 

Before Your Planning Session:

• Go grab that dream book we always talk about and get to work making a list!
  • If you didn’t do this back in November when we first mentioned it, then start making a list of all the things you want to accomplish the rest of this year in your personal life. Trips, hikes, bike rides, spa days, weekend getaways with the gals, camping trips, lunch dates, etc. Need some help with ideas? Click HERE to read our November newsletter that shared tips on how to get inspired to plan your best year yet. 

Keep In Mind:

• Like the quote above, it’s important to remember that whatever you say ‘yes’ to, you are saying ‘no’ to something else. I’m a YES person by default so I get the urge to always say yes, but sometimes you need to stop and think, “is this really how I want to use my time”? Be aware of this when you meet up with your family and friends to plan out your year. 

Solo Time:

• Last year was the first year that I actually time blocked out the hikes that I wanted to make sure happen. Usually I just made a list of hikes to do, but last year, I actually put them into the calendar and man, did I get in a lot of miles because of this simple act! The reasons being were:
  • It made it clear to my hubby he was on kiddo duty. 
  • During the slower winter months I did the legwork to figure out which hikes were best at what times of year (hello wildflowers), and how long they’d take me. So if I only had four hours I knew this hike was perfect for that, etc.
    • If you want a list of those hikes I’m happy to share, just shoot me an email!
  • Most importantly though, life gets busy and hectic, especially in the summer. But when I had something on the calendar I had this feeling of obligation to go and respect my date with myself. And despite feeling overwhelmed with life (from the messy house, to the work emails, to the weekend trip to pack for, etc.) I just listened to my calendar and headed out. It was always a much needed outing and everything else still got done, eventually!
    • You can watch this funny Instagram video I posted to see the optingoutside-runners-high you may get after a solo adventure :). Click HERE.

Making it Happen- The Gear:
You’ve planned out what you want to do and who you want to do it with. But now it’s time to think about what else you need to make your 2023 year a success. The gear, the sitters, the work coverage, etc. Some helpful tips on all of this: 

• Gear: 
  • Check with your City
    • Our McCall City has loaner gear, from cross country skis for kids, to snorkel equipment, so I bet your city does too! 
  • Ask friends for help
    • I have so much gear gathered over the years and I hold onto a lot of it even when I’m not using it anymore because we get a lot of visitors to McCall. These friends can’t always bring their own gear from home and/or they might not have it. I’ve even had other friends hit me up to borrow for their family and I LOVE seeing my old gear get used- so don’t hesitate to ask people you know if they have extra stuff you can borrow. 
  • If you have to buy stuff- watch the sales now! 
  • You can find used gear for inexpensive prices at your local used gear shop (McCall has the McCall Sports Exchange, Boise has Play it Again Sports) and also check out thrift stores!  . 
  • Check out the Sendy app
    • It’s basically Airbnb for outdoor equipment and I think it’s a brilliant option! It’s a newer app and they’re just getting members so it might take some time before there are a lot of rentals available, but it will be a good option once there are! 
• Work Coverage
  • As soon as you get adventures planned make sure you put the request in at work if you need time off, do it NOW! 
  • Remember REALTORS- you can always hire a TC company, like Elevate TC Services to cover your transactions while you’re on a mini adventure or on vacation. 😉 
• Babysitters 
  • If you’ve got young kiddos at home and you need care for them, then get to work on setting that up now so that won’t hold you back from your adventures. Anything from babysitters, to family, to mom swaps!
    • What’s a mom swap? A few of my fellow moms and I created a mom swap program. A simple spreadsheet with a point system that tracks who is watching others kiddos so there is no guilt that someone is watching kiddos more than someone else. Let me know if you want a copy of the spreadsheet template. 

Mindset to Remember:

• If you erase, you must replace.
  • I get it, things come up, but respect yourself enough to reschedule whatever you erase! 
• When you’re jam packing your schedule and trying to do it all just remember that it may be a little chaotic and crazy and your mind may be spinning. But at the end of the day, or end of the season, or end of the year, or even more dramatically the end of your life, I believe it’s better to be exhausted and fulfilled then rested and full of regrets.